In a Louisiana swamp several miles upriver from the Gulf of Mexico, about 3,000 construction workers are building a massive industrial facility to liquefy natural gas, preparing for a new era when the U.S. will begin exporting energy around the globe. The $12-billion project is one of the largest single industrial investments in the nation, part of a massive transformation of the energy sector that has led to a boom in drilling, transportation and refining from coast to coast. Five years ago, the idea of exporting U.S. gas and oil was not only unheard of, but, in the case of most U.S. crude oil, illegal.

U.S. retail gasoline prices fell over the last week to their lowest level since July 1999, dropping 2.4 cents to $1.18 a gallon, the Energy Department said. The latest national pump price is down 34 cents from a year ago, according to the Energy Information Administration's weekly survey of more than 800 service stations. Drivers have not seen regular unleaded gasoline this cheap since the week of July 19, 1999, according to EIA.

The state's average retail price for gasoline rose 1.9 cents a gallon in the latest week, the third straight weekly increase, a government survey showed. Self-serve regular's average price climbed to $2.053 a gallon from $2.034 the previous week, the Energy Department said, partly because of recent hikes in crude oil prices. The price stood 23.2 cents a gallon higher than a year earlier, according to the agency's Energy Information Administration.

World oil demand growth will slow in 2005-06 from 2004 levels mostly because of less petroleum use by China, and oil consumption in the U.S. will rise slightly more than previously expected, the U.S. government's top energy forecasting agency said. The Energy Information Administration revised down its estimate for global oil demand growth next year by 100,000 barrels a day to 1.8 million. The agency said oil demand growth would average 1.8% during the two-year period, compared with 3.

U.S. greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming fell by 1.2% last year, the largest decrease in a decade, due in part to slow economic growth and a milder winter, the government said. Last year's decline was in sharp contrast to the average 1.3% annual growth rate in U.S. emissions from 1990 to 2000, according to a report from the Energy Information Administration. Still, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2001, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, were 11.

U.S. drivers should expect to pay around $3 a gallon for gasoline through the rest of the summer, the government's top energy forecasting agency said. The federal Energy Information Administration said no price declines were expected until after Labor Day, when demand typically drops. The national price for regular unleaded gasoline rose 1.4 cents over the last week, to $3 a gallon, up 71 cents from a year ago and the second-highest pump price ever, the agency said.

The jump in American consumers' home heating costs this winter will be less steep than previously expected because of mild weather in October and November, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. U.S. homes that use natural gas for winter heating will see an average increase of 35%, or $257, from last winter, the agency said. Households that depend on heating oil can expect to pay an average of 23%, or $275, more.

The average price U.S. drivers pay for gasoline is expected to drop 25 cents more in the short term, the federal Energy Information Administration said. "Reductions already seen in spot and futures markets could imply a further decrease in the U.S. average retail price of as much as 25 cents" -- to a national average of about $2.25 a gallon -- if the wholesale markets don't turn up before then, the agency said.

The average price paid by California motorists for self-serve regular gasoline was unchanged from the week before at $1.832 a gallon, the Energy Information Administration said. The U.S. average retail price declined for the second straight week, dropping 2.4 cents to $1.524 per gallon, according to the EIA's weekly survey of 800 gasoline stations.